The Low Anthem is taking a few weeks off from its busy touring schedule to prepare its next album. The good news is, a number of sites—LaundroMatinee, Baebel Music, Duke Street Blog, and The Bandwidth Sessions—have posted video sessions of live performances by the band to allow fans to experience the live feel before the band heads out on the road again in July.

The Black Keys' new album, Brothers, is due out May 18; to make the waiting easier, NPR.org is streaming the entire album as a First Listen. NPR's Bob Boilen says it's "packed with great songs and devoid of throwaways." The band will launch an exclusive pop-up store at NYC’s Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, May 18–20, highlighted by an intimate performance by The Black Keys on May 19; all ticket proceeds will go to Housing Works' efforts supporting New Yorkers with HIV/AIDS.

John Adams begins two weeks' of events on the East Coast with a concert in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall tonight, leading Ensemble ACJW in his Son of Chamber Symphony and Louis Andriessen's De Staat. The Kennedy Center launches John Adams: Perspectives, a two-week celebration of his music, featuring concerts with the NSO, discussions, a film screening, and book signings of his memoir, Hallelujah Junction, from which Adams will read at the Library of Congress.

Tune in to The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight on CBS to see Wilco perform "Deeper Down" off Wilco (the album). The band has just announced a diverse array of musical guests for the line up of its first Solid Sound Festival, a three-day event to be held at MASS MoCA, August 13–15, in North Adams, Massachusetts. In addition to performances by the band and its members, the festival will feature Avi Buffalo, Vetiver, Sir Richard Bishop, Mountain Man, Brenda, The Books, Deep Blue Organ Trio, and legendary puppet theater company Bread and Puppet.

k.d. lang's performance of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at the Logie Awards, Australia's television awards, last week "held the room spellbound," says the Sydney Morning Herald. Now comes word that the lang's latest Nonesuch release, Recollection, has shot to No. 1 on Australia's album chart, a position the album first reached upon its release in February.

Strange Powers, the new documentary film on Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields, makes its New York debut tonight with a sold-out screening at The Bell House in Brooklyn. The screening will be preceded by a monologue from band member Claudia Gonson and followed by a Q&A with the film's directors, Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara. The film will be shown at the Seattle International Film Festival in June and begins its theatrical run in NYC this fall.

Today was election day in the Philippines, with Benigno Aquino in the lead for President. Imelda Marcos, the country's former First Lady, is up for congress and spoke with BBC News in an interview the BBC set to songs from the David Byrne / Fatboy Slim song cycle on her life, Here Lies Love. The album also features Aquino's father, whom Imelda once dated and who was imprisoned for his opposition to the Marcos regime.

Pat Metheny returned to his home state of Missouri for two stops on the Orchestrion tour this weekend. "Metheny's Orchestrion is nothing short of spectacular," raves the Kansas City Star,  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says, "The music spoke for itself, and eloquently." The tour continues tonight in Chicago. "Simply put," explains Time Out Chicago of Orchestrion, "the famed jazz guitarist has raised the bar for inventiveness, which says a lot for a career stretching over three decades."

Kronos Quartet, Alim Qasimov Ensemble perform from Floodplain in Paris ... Laurie Anderson brings Delusion to Berkeley ... Carolina Chocolate Drops stop at Oberlin's Spring Folkfest ...   Shawn Colvin plays the Birchmere ... Bill Frisell continues Village Vanguard residency ... Richard Goode begins Europe tour, as do Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau; Randy Newman continues his, while Rokia Traoré closes hers ... Pat Metheny hits his hometown ... and more ...

Laurie Anderson brings her latest piece, Delusion, to Berkeley's Zellerbach Auditorium tonight and Saturday. It follows a performance at Stanford to which the San Francisco Chronicle gives its highest rating, describing Delusion as "one story, quip or rumination after another, to comic, provocative and deeply touching effect ... As much as Anderson's beguiling presence and creative mastery, it's the tension between its playful and somber sides that gives Delusion its poignant weight."

Rokia Traoré concludes her UK tour in Coventry tonight. The tour began ten days ago at Koko in London, a performance to which The Guardian, The Independent, and the Evening Standard all give four stars. The Guardian calls it "an exhilarating performance." The Independent says Traoré was "a captivating performer" throughout. The Evening Standard says, "when she rocked, she really rocked."

The Low Anthem is up for two awards open to fan votes. Those in the UK can make the most of today's election momentum and vote in the Mojo Honours List, where The Low Anthem is nominated for Breakthrough Act of the Year. The band has also been nominated in The Phoenix Best Music Poll for Local Superstars and National Roots/Americana, up against Wilco in the latter; Bill Frisell is up for Best Jazz and Stephen Merritt for Best Singer/Songwriter.